In March of this year, Cohen announced that he was going to publish a collection of his humor columns – some written while he worked for several newspapers in California, others written since he and his wife, Michele, moved to Cary in 2008 – in book form as a means of raising money for a local baseball league for children with special needs, including his own son, Max. He announced that he would donate proceeds from sales of “Staying Crazy To Keep From Going Insane” to the league, where he has been serving as a volunteer.

“We’ve gotten a lot from the League,” Cohen said. “It’s a place where Max gets to have some independence, to leave Mom and Dad in the stands and head out to the field. And we have made a lot of great friends, people who understand the challenges of being the parents of a special needs child and can offer advice, support, etc. After receiving all of that, Michele and I wanted to give something back.”

To offset the expense of publishing the book, he put out a call for sponsorships. And they came – from the Cary community to his native California and points in between.

The primary local sponsors for the book are: The Behavior Exchange, Raleigh; Anfield Inc., Raleigh; The Avilez Family in Iowa; Chambers Arts, Cary; Dr. Ben Schemmel, Cary; Hooper Law Firm PLLC, Raleigh; and The Garden Supply Company, Cary. Primary sponsors outside the Triangle are: Live A Little More Enterprises, Marylin Cooper, Digi-Q and Evantac of California; the Cannata Family of Georgia; the Sadler Family of Virginia; and Mommy and Me Are A Family of Texas.

A host of other individuals have contributed small sponsorships and Cary artist Darla Yancho created the cover art.

“The sponsors really made this book possible,” said Cohen. “Their contributions gave us the extra push we needed and also served as a wonderful vote of confidence.”

Cris Cohen of Cary, NC, is the author of the “Nothing In Particular” blog (criscohen.typepad.com), the humor columnist for Cary Citizen.com, and the author of the upcoming book “Staying Crazy To Keep From Going Insane.” Cohen and his wife Michelle are co-owners of Tyrannosaurus Max Press and regular volunteers with the Miracle League of the Triangle. For more information on Cohen and his book, visit www.stayingcrazy.com.